KIIS Paris I, Summer 2018 English 200: Introduction to Literature: The Literature of Place

Professor: Dr. Davies Email: [email protected]

Syllabus subject to change

Course Description:

This course will take advantage of the unique setting of Paris to explore the imaginative ways that literary artists reflect and represent human experience in their works. We will read the responses of writers to the world of 17th Century Paris, the Age of Enlightenment, the nineteenth century, and also contemporary times. Our texts will be chosen from among works of narrative fiction, poetry, and drama/film, the three basic modes of literary representation. We will study the techniques by which writers create their artistic worlds, and be able to compare and contrast our own experience of the streets and people of Paris with these literary works. Our course will be a literary pilgrimage as we explore sites in Paris memorialized by these authors.

Learning Outcomes Met by This Course English 200 helps to fulfill the Arts and Humanities (AH) Colonnade requirement at WKU. Upon completion of this course students will demonstrate the ability to:

1. Utilize basic formal elements, techniques, concepts and vocabulary of specific disciplines within the Arts and Humanities. 2. Distinguish among various kinds of evidence by identifying reliable sources and valid arguments. 3. Demonstrate how social, cultural, and historical contexts influence creative expression in the Arts and Humanities. 4. Evaluate the significance of human expression and experience in shaping larger social, cultural, and historical contexts. 5. Evaluate enduring and contemporary issues of human experience. 6. Read, comprehend, and analyze primary texts independently and proficiently.

Texts: Our texts will be selected from the following possibilities (a longer descriptive list of texts is included at the end of the syllabus):

Prose narratives: Voltaire: Candide. 1759. Dover Thrift Editions. 1991. Helen Constantine, ed. Paris Tales (City Tales) Oxford University Press, 2004. Wallace Fowlie, ed. French Stories. Dover Publications, 1990. Drama: Molière, Tartuffe. 1664. Dover Thrift Editions, 2000. Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac. 1897. Dover Thrift Editions, 2000. Puccini, La Bohème. Opera libretto, English, Italian. 1896. Dover, 2011. Film: Roxanne. Film directed by Fred Schepisi. 1987. La Bohème. Film directed by Baz Lurhmann. 1993. Poetry: Stanley Appelbaum, ed. Introduction to French Poetry. Dover, 1991. Angel Flores, ed. The Anchor Anthology of French Poetry. Anchor, 2000.

Assignments: Students will be expected to read carefully the required texts prior to class meetings and to participate fully in discussions and all other activities. Class sessions will include lectures, viewing of films, and discussions over course material. Students will keep a course journal covering our readings and viewings. They may also go on individual research expeditions to identify and report on specific correlations of our texts with Parisian settings. There will be two writing assignments that will explore the importance of the French setting in the literature we will be reading.

Grades: 1. class participation, discussions 20% 2. journal of readings/activities 20% 3. report on research expeditions 20% 4. papers 20% 5. final exam 20%

Attendance: Students are expected to attend every class and to participate in out of class activities as directed by the instructor. KIIS requires that any unexcused absence result in grade reduction, and multiple unexcused absences may result in expulsion from the program.

Texts with Annotations:

Voltaire: Candide. 1759. Dover Thrift Editions. 1991. ISBN-10: 0486266893; ISBN-13: 978-0486266893

Caustic and hilarious, Candide has ranked as one of the world's great satires since its first publication in 1759. It concerns the adventures of the youthful Candide. In the course of his travels and adventures in Europe and South America, Candide saw and suffered such misfortune that it was difficult for him to believe this was "the best of all possible worlds" as his teacher Dr. Pangloss had assured him. Indeed, it seemed to be quite the opposite. In brilliantly skewering such naïveté, Voltaire mercilessly exposes and satirizes romance, science, philosophy, religion, and government — the ideas and forces that permeate and control the lives of men. After many trials and travails, Candide decides that the best thing in the world is to cultivate one's own garden.

Helen Constantine, ed. Paris Tales (City Tales) Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN-10: 0192805746; ISBN-13: 978-0192805744

This is a highly evocative collection of stories by French and Francophone writers who have been inspired by the mystery and charm of different locations in this most visited of capital cities. The twenty-two stories-- by well-known writers including Nerval, Maupassant, Colette, and Echenoz-- provide a captivating glimpse into Parisian life from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. The stories take us on an atmospheric tour of the arrondissements and quartiers of Paris, charting the changing nature of the city and its inhabitants. From the artists' haunts of Montmartre to the glamorous cafés of Saint-Germain, Paris Tales offers a fascinating literary panorama of Paris. Illustrated with maps and striking photographs, the book will appeal to all those who wish to uncover the true heart of this seductive city.

Wallace Fowlie, ed. French Stories. Dover Publications, 1990. ISBN-10: 0486264432 ISBN-13: 978-0486264431

A dual-language collection of French short stories, from Voltaire to Camus. Drawn from two centuries of French literature, these superb selections by ten great writers span a wide variety of styles, philosophies, and literary creeds. The stories reflect not only the beliefs of various literary schools, but the preoccupations of French civilization, at the various times of their composition, with the metaphysical and psychological problems of man. Contents include Micromégas (Voltaire), La Messe de l'Athée (Honoré de Balzac), La Légende de Saint Julien l'Hospitalier (Gustave Flaubert), Le Spleen de Paris (Charles Baudelaire), Menuet (Guy de Maupassant), Mort de Judas (Paul Claudel), Le Retour de l'Enfant Prodigue (André Gide), Grand-Lebrun (François Mauriac), Le Passe-Muraille (Marcel Aymé), and L'Hôte (Albert Camus). The selections are arranged chronologically, allowing the reader to witness the development of French literary art — from Voltaire to Camus. Excellent English translations appear on pages facing the original French. Also included are a French-English vocabulary list, textual notes, and exercises.

Drama:

Molière, Tartuffe. 1664. Dover Thrift Editions, 2000. ISBN-10: 0486411176 ISBN-13: 978-0486411170

Renowned for his satirical works, Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, 1622–1673) delighted in lampooning the social pretensions and conceits of 17th-century French society. In this 1664 verse comedy with serious overtones, Tartuffe, a penniless scoundrel and religious poseur, is invited by a gullible benefactor to live in his home. Imposing a rigidly puritanical regimen on the formerly happy household, Tartuffe wreaks havoc among family members. He breaks off the daughter's engagement, attempts to seduce the wife of his host, acquires his patron's property, and eventually resorts to blackmail and extortion. But ultimately, his schemes and malicious deeds lead to his own downfall. This timeless comedy by one of France's greatest and most influential playwrights is essential reading for students of theater and literature.

Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac. 1897. Dover Thrift Editions, 2000. ISBN-10: 0486411192 ISBN-13: 978-0486411194

Widely considered the most popular modern French play, Cyrano de Bergerac has dazzled audiences with its wit and eloquence since it premiered in 1897. Cyrano, a quarrelsome, hot-tempered swordsman, as famous for his dueling skills and pugnacity as for his inordinately long nose, is hopelessly enamored of the beautiful Roxane. She, in turn, is in love with Christian, a handsome but inarticulate and slow-witted suitor. Asked for help by Christian in wooing Roxane, Cyrano pours out his heart in romantic dialogues — delivered under cover of night and dense foliage — and through ardent love letters written in the name of Christian.

Roxanne. Film directed by Fred Schepisi. 1987.

In this modern take on Rostand's "Cyrano de Bergerac," C. D. Bales (Steve Martin) is the witty, intelligent and brave fire chief of a small Pacific Northwest town who, due to the size of his enormous nose, declines to pursue the girl of his dreams, lovely Roxanne Kowalski (Daryl Hannah). Instead, when his shy underling Chris McConnell (Rick Rossovich) becomes smitten with Roxanne, Bales feeds the handsome young man the words of love to win her heart.

Puccini, Giacomo. La Bohème. 1896. Opera libretto, English, Italian. Dover, 2011. ISBN-10: 0486246078 ISBN-13: 978-0486246079

Puccini's enticing music perfectly conveys the enchantment of new young love and the anguish that comes with loss and death. La Bohème, the passionate and timeless story of love among impoverished young artists in Paris, can stake its claim as the world's most popular opera. It has a marvelous ability to make a powerful first impression (even on those new to opera) and to reveal unexpected treasures after dozens of hearings. At first glance, La Bohème is the definitive depiction of the joys and sorrows of love and loss; on closer inspection, it reveals the deep emotional significance hidden in the trivial things (a bonnet, an old overcoat, a chance meeting with a neighbor) that make up our everyday lives. This touching story of tenderness and tragedy never fails to move audiences and melt hearts.

La Bohème. Film directed by Baz Lurhmann. 1993.

Poetry:

Stanley Appelbaum, ed. Introduction to French Poetry. Dover, 1991. ISBN-13: 978-0486267111 ISBN-10: 0486267113

An unusually useful survey of the development of French poetry, this book anthologizes works by France’s finest and most influential poets — 30 in all — from the mid-fifteenth century to our own time. Included are such luminaries as Charles d’Orléans, François Villon, Joachim du Bellay, Ronsard, La Fontaine, Voltaire, Chénier, Hugo, Musset, Gautier, Vigny, Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Claudel, Valéry, Apollinaire, Perse, and Bonnefoy. The clarity and comprehensiveness of this attractive anthology make it an ideal volume for an introductory survey of French poetry.

Angel Flores, ed. The Anchor Anthology of French Poetry: From Nerval to Valery in English Translation. Anchor, 2000.

ISBN-10: 0385498888 ISBN-13: 978-0385498883 First published in 1958, this collection introduced an indispensible corpus of western poetry to countless American college students, francophiles, and would-be poets -- among them Patti Smith, whose vocation was formed she says, by reading this book. The poetic and cultural tradition forged by the Symbolist poets -- Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Appollinaire, and others -- reverberated throughout the avant garde and counter-cultures of the twentieth century. Modernism, surrealism, abstract impressionism, and the Beat movement are unthinkable without the example of these poets and their theories of art, making this reissue possibly the hippest "dead white European male" anthology ever published.